This relates generally to light sensors and, more particularly, to structures for diffusing light for light sensors in electronic devices.
Electronic devices often include light sensors. For example, light sensors can be used to make ambient light measurements. An electronic device may use ambient light data to control display brightness under a variety of ambient lighting conditions.
If care is not taken, ambient light sensors may exhibit different sensitivities for incoming light from different directions. This directionality is generally not desired in an ambient light sensor, as it can make a device overly sensitive to its orientation relative to concentrated light sources rather than being responsive to the overall level of ambient light in the vicinity of the sensor.
To reduce directionality, an ambient light sensor may be provided with a diffuser. The diffuser is typically formed from a polymer film that is coated with acrylic beads. The film is attached to the ambient light sensor using pressure sensitive adhesive, which can lead to assembly challenges due to potential misalignment during attachment, difficulty in removing backing material from the pressure sensitive adhesive, and other handling issues.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved ways to diffuse light for a light sensor within an electronic device.